Burkina Faso’s ability to raise capital—in comparison to Mali & Niger but also many other peers—remains under appreciated. Speaks to relative capital formation but also an extensive diaspora in somewhat richer states (even though Niger is famous for such diasporas as well)

🇪🇸🇦🇷 Video intéressante (Juliette, créatrice de contenu, voir "Macho Boulot Dodo") sur l'essentialisation de l'Argentine : "les supporters racistes dans les stades de foot, vous croyez que c'est quelle partie de la population qui peut se payer des billets d'avion pour les Etats-Unis ou en Europe pour voir des matchs" ➡️"Je suis Argentine et on n'a pas la côte ! Sur tous les aspects problématiques de mon pays, je suis la première à liker, mais ce qui commence à me gêner dans l'opinion publique générale, beaucoup alimentée par le seum footballistique, il commence à y avoir un discours qui fait de l'Argentine un pays raciste. Mais on ne parle jamais du peuple dans son entièreté." #ESPARG #ARGESP

Excellent news!

In Germany, a talented 14-year-old earns his club money. In America, his parents pay the club $15,000 a year. That single inversion explains why "we will not" is the most accurate line ever written about US soccer. FIFA built a global system for this. Training compensation and solidarity payments send a cut of every transfer fee back to the clubs that developed the player, from age 12 onward. Develop one future pro and your academy gets paid for a decade. Barcelona's La Masia, Ajax, every Bundesliga academy runs on this logic. The kid is the asset. US Soccer refuses to enforce those rules. When Seattle's Crossfire Premier claimed its $60,000 share of DeAndre Yedlin's transfer to Tottenham, it got nothing. Claims on the Dempsey and Bradley transfers died partly because the federation couldn't even produce the youth training records. So American clubs earn zero dollars when a kid turns pro. They earn when a kid enrolls. Which makes the parent the customer, and the product is whatever keeps the parent writing checks: travel tournaments, hotel weekends, $500 showcase events, private training at $100 an hour. Elite pathways run $8,000 to $20,000 a year. A comparable academy spot in Italy costs about 120 euros. Follow the incentive one level deeper and it gets darker. A club dependent on fees can't cut its weakest paying players, so rosters optimize for retention over development. The scouting pool shrinks to families who can afford the cliff, which appears around age 11, exactly when development matters most. The country runs a talent filter sorted by household income instead of ability. Every four years someone proposes fixing this. The proposal always requires the people profiting from the $15,000 model to vote themselves out of business. They will not.

🚨 𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚: The Royal Belgian Football Association has released a statement in regard to Folarin Balogun being able to play against them. "The Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA) is astonished by FIFA's decision to declare suspended United States player Folarin Balogun eligible to play in the USA–Belgium match on Monday, 6 July at 5:00 p.m. (Seattle time)." "FIFA bases its decision on Article 27 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code. This provision states that the FIFA Disciplinary Committee may decide to suspend the enforcement of a previously imposed disciplinary sanction." "However, Article 66.4 of the same FIFA Disciplinary Code clearly provides that a red card (sending-off) automatically results in a suspension for the team's next match, as has been the case for all previous red cards issued during this FIFA World Cup." "Furthermore, and irrespective of the above, the decision is in direct contradiction with the provisions of the FIFA World Cup 2026 Competition Regulations, as set out in Article 10.5: "If a player or team official is sent off as a result of a direct or indirect red card (second caution), they will automatically be suspended from their team's subsequent match. In addition, further sanctions may be imposed." "The automatic nature of such a suspension was also explicitly reaffirmed in FIFA World Cup 2026 Circular No. 16, which was distributed to all participating member associations on 12 May 2026." "The same rule is reiterated at every FIFA World Cup 2026 Match Coordination Meeting prior to each match and is included in all FIFA World Cup 2026 workshop presentations. "In order to safeguard the legitimate rights of all participating teams and to protect the fundamental principles of fair play in our sport, both at this FIFA World Cup and at future editions of the tournament, the RBFA is investigating all potential options."